With the sound of 50 students’ buzzing excitement as they huddle over a problem in groups, it’s clear that the Mass Academy’s Math Team is the most popular after-school activity. But why? I decided to take a deep dive into understanding the club’s popularity and success by first approaching its captains.

Captains Jared Rosen, Erica Dong, and Rishi Patel each have different stories that brought them to find their passion for math. 

During elementary school, Captain Jared Rosen was placed in an advanced program for kids who thought “outside the box.” He admitted that “when [he] talk[s] to people about how [he] approach[es] problems [he] definitely approach[es] them in a different way” and that he really enjoys discussing these approaches and uncovering different paths to solutions. In fact, much of the Math Team's practices involve sharing unique strategies for solving problems.

Captain Erica Dong admits that she was fueled more by competition. Dong started self-studying math when her brother was placed in an advanced class during the pandemic. Through her pursuit and friendly sibling rivalry, she found herself enjoying math in a more competitive way.  When Dong was placed on her first Math Team in Cleveland, she found not just the competition but also the strong team spirit particularly enjoyable. She hopes to continue having collaborative fun with math at Mass Academy and is inspired “to bring that more light hearted, fun and communal energy to [Mass Academy’s] Math Team and try to encourage participation.”

When he started classes at Russian School of Mathematics in first grade, Captain Rishi Patel hated it. In 7th grade, however, he had an incredibly interactive teacher who inspired him to pay attention more through cold calling, motivating him with the threat of public embarrassment. With this unique motivation tactic, he felt inspired to start participating in more competitions. He shared that “initially I wasn't good at them, for example when I did the AMC8 I did really bad. But then going into high school I joined St. John's Math Team, which is my sending school, and I started to do practices and practice problems.”

excelling – there's always going to be some kids coming into Mass Academy who excel in competition math. For me, seeing those individuals kind of pushed me to do better and practice more.” The captains also remarked that the collaborative aspect, which is highly stressed in all programs at Mass Academy, can also be seen in the Math Team. Weekly Math Team practices are filled with excited chatter as students discuss various ways of problem solving in their groups.

On October 9th, Mass Academy’s Math Team had their first meet. The tension and excitement among the Juniors was palpable. Not everyone had participated in one of these competitions before, so even with all the practice and seeing the kinds of questions they’d get, students were nervous. After the first rounds, however, students’ nerves gave way to collaborative engagement. While some lamented that they did not get everything right, they were met by their peers with encouragement and explanations of how to do the problems correctly. By the end of the math meet, the mood had turned from jittery to satisfied.

To those still considering joining the Math Team, the captains had the following messages: 

“Don’t be afraid to ask us questions” (Jared).

“Have fun . . . People think Math Team is just sitting in silence doing math but it’s fun” (Erica).

“Don’t be scared to join the Math Team, no one’s going to judge you, we’re all just there to do math together. It’s not really high stakes or anything, it’s just fun” (Rishi).

If you would like to join Math Team or participate in other competitions, email Ms. Burns at kburns3@wpi.edu or sign up at the beginning of the term.